Jumanji
Short description
Two children, Judy and Peter, move into an empty house and find an old board game in the attic. When they start to play, they bring back Alan Parrish, a man who vanished during a game twenty-six years earlier and has been trapped inside the jungle world of Jumanji ever since. To free him and stop the chaos the game unleashes on their town, the players must finish what Alan started, while animals and other dangers pour out of the board and a hunter pursues them.
Joe Johnston directed the film, his fourth feature after Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, The Rocketeer and The Pagemaster. Jonathan Hensleigh, Greg Taylor and Jim Strain wrote the screenplay, and Scott Kroopf and William Teitler produced. Robin Williams plays the adult Alan, with Kirsten Dunst and Bradley Pierce as the children, Bonnie Hunt as Sarah, a friend from Alan's childhood, and Jonathan Hyde in a dual role as the hunter Van Pelt and Alan's father. The production, made by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, TriStar Pictures, Teitler Film and Interscope Communications, cost about 65 million dollars and returned roughly 263 million worldwide, a strong result for a family adventure of its time.
On IMDb it holds 7.1 out of 10 from around 411,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.2 out of 10 from more than 11,000 votes. A critics' rating of 6.2 out of 10 from 51 reviews places it somewhat below those audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- This film was the first to generate photorealistic hair and fur for digital lions and monkeys using computer graphics.
- The film is an adaptation of the eponymous work by Chris Van Allsburg.
- Scarlett Johansson auditioned for the role of Judy Shepherd.
- It took 3 hours to apply makeup to Bradley Pitt to transform him into a monkey, and he was filmed in this role for 15 to 20 days.
- The residents of Keene, New Hampshire, adored Robin Williams (1951-2014) so much that in 1994, the mayor of Keene even presented the actor with the keys to the city. After the actor's death in 2014, the residents of Keene erected an impromptu memorial of flowers and candles in his memory and organized a public screening of a film.
- In the scene where his character is shot, Robin Williams didn't even have to flinch or portray fear because the blank cartridges sounded incredibly loud.
- Joe Johnston doubted the advisability of casting Robin Williams in the role because the actor frequently improvised while in character. Williams, however, pulled himself together and played as written in the script, only allowing himself to improvise occasionally (usually in scenes with Bonnie Hunt), and then they would shoot several takes of the same scene.
- The game from the film was sold on eBay for $60,800.
- At the 78th minute of the film, during the conversation on the road between Aunt Nora and police officer Carl, it is visible that Carl is wearing a seatbelt in the car; however, when he notices a tentacle protruding from the window, he jumps out of the car without hindrance.
Similar movies
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
